CORRECTED-Massachusetts family says VA offer of help came two years late

BOSTON (Reuters) - Last month, Suzanne Chase opened a letter
from a Veterans Affairs hospital offering her husband medical
help - an offer that she said came nearly two years after his
death.

Douglas Chase, a Vietnam veteran, died in August 2012 of
complications from melanoma, several months after he applied for
transfer to a Veterans Affairs hospital in Massachusetts. He
never got a response.

"It's such a disrespectful thing, not to be able to care for
those putting their lives at risk," his widow said on Tuesday.

The VA is embroiled in a scandal over widespread evidence of
delays. President Barack Obama has pledged to overhaul the
agency, which he says has frayed under the strain of caring for
more than 6 million patients a year.

In June, the VA said an internal audit found more than
100,000 veterans had been subjected to a wait of 90 days or more
for appointments at medical facilities nationwide.

It also found that staff at 76 percent of the facilities
surveyed said they had been instructed at least once to
misrepresent appointment data. Doctors at VA clinics in Phoenix
have alleged that some 40 veterans died while waiting for care.

Chase said she was "flabbergasted" when she opened a letter
two weeks ago offering her husband care at the Bedford,
Massachusetts, VA hospital that said the agency was "committed
to providing primary care in a timely manner."

Her husband had made the request in April 2012, when he was
suffering from melanoma and bladder cancer.

"That was the icing on the proverbial cake," she said.

She sent a letter to the hospital. When she did not hear
back, she contacted WBZ, a CBS affiliate in Boston.

The VA did not immediately respond to a Reuters inquiry
about the Douglas Chase case. In a statement to WBZ, the
Veterans Affairs Department apologized "for any distress our
actions caused to the Veteran's widow and family" and said an
official from the VA had left a message of apology with Suzanne
Chase.

Chase said the official had called the wrong number but that
she was expecting a second call.